


tune into our conversation

by haipollai



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Tony throws the best parties, trying to connect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-10
Updated: 2012-09-10
Packaged: 2017-11-13 23:24:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/508890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haipollai/pseuds/haipollai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>He clears his throat softly to get Clint’s attention, remembering the time Tony accidentally startled him and Clint barely checked his punch to keep from crushing his larynx. Even drunk, Steve doesn’t want to test Clint’s reflexes.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Clint turns with a ready smile but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Hey Cap.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“You <i>can</i> call me Steve.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Steve,” he says slowly as if feeling it out on his tongue. “Steve,” he repeats with a slight nod. “What can I do you for, Steve?”</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	tune into our conversation

The future is kind of like the past. Steve still can’t get drunk, but he likes the taste so he lets Tony push a drink into his hand. He doesn’t do more then occasionally sip at it but the burn in his throat feels good. He notices Bruce only has a soda because no one wants to deal with Bruce without his inhibitions though that doesn’t stop Tony from continually nagging at him to just drink one beer. Bruce smiles patiently each time. Steve has come to realize that Bruce is the master of smiling patiently. Bruce turns down each offer but somehow Tony still manages to get a beer into his hand. It gets masterfully passed off to Natasha who can put back American beer like water. Thor is into the scotch and is halfway to convincing Sitwell to arm wrestle with him. At some point, Clint disappears. Steve isn’t entirely sure of the when, just that he looked around and Clint wasn’t there. Natasha catches his eye and nods towards the back door leading out to the balcony. 

Steve isn’t even sure if it’s his place to go after him. He knows there’s something there between Clint and Bruce and he and Natasha have always been close. Neither of them seem particularly worried. Steve doesn’t like it though and eventually can’t just sit there. He excuses himself from his conversation with Pepper and slips out the back door. Clint is seated on the railing around the porch, one leg dangling and the other held against his chest as if he isn’t hundreds of feet up. There’s a beer balanced right by his foot that’s mostly empty. A second, already empty one is in a line right behind it, clearly he was out here for the long haul and maybe Steve is in the wrong. He’s come this far though and doesn’t want to go back inside without at least asking if Clint is ok. Even if he lies, and Steve is fairly sure it will be a lie, Clint will know someone cares.

He clears his throat softly to get Clint’s attention, remembering the time Tony accidentally startled him and Clint barely checked his punch to keep from crushing his larynx. Even drunk, Steve doesn’t want to test Clint’s reflexes.

Clint turns with a ready smile but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Hey Cap.”

“You _can_ call me Steve.”

“Steve,” he says slowly as if feeling it out on his tongue. “Steve,” he repeats with a slight nod. “What can I do you for, Steve?”

Steve’s cheeks hurt in sympathy at Clint’s smile. “Are you alright?”

Clint looks startled for a second, as if it’s the last thing he expects from Steve’s mouth but he quickly has his smile up again. “Peachy. You don’t need to worry about me.” Steve’s used to stubborn friends and their bullshit reassurances. Clint’s already turning away, expecting Steve to leave just as readily. He was originally planning on it, but now, he takes a few steps forward so he doesn’t feel like he’s shouting across a gaping chasm.

“We’re supposed to be a team,” he says softly. To him it's explanation enough but sometimes he feels like he did that very first day he ran into modern New York. Modern values don’t often line up with his own.

“We are a team. Did you not see the way we took out the villain?”

Steve wants to tell him that villains only exist in stories, but they’ve fought monsters and gods so maybe villain is more accurate then he realizes. He still wonders why that’s the word Clint chooses. He’s read Clint’s file, he knows a little about his time with the circus, though Clint has yet to say a word about it to him. A childhood in the limelight might make someone see real life in similar terms. “Well, then maybe I want to be friends.”

Clint’s shoulders hunch up a little as if he wants to shrink. “You don’t want to be friends with me.”

“Why not?”

If Clint is going to say anything it’s interrupted by a crash from back in the mansion, followed by yelling. “Going to go see about that, Cap?” It's a dismissal, pure and simple and so Steve decides to ignore it.

He purposefully leans against the railing, stealing Clint’s beer and finishing it. “They've probably survived worse.”

This time the bemusement is in Clint’s eyes and doesn’t quite reach the rest of his face. “What if Tony’s finally managed to push Bruce over the edge?”

Steve shrugs. “Then Natasha will come out here to get you to calm him down.” Clint makes a soft clicking noise with his tongue and stares back out over the city stretched around them. It’s a beautiful view. The greatest advantage of being in the Tower is that Steve doesn’t actually have to look at the Tower. High up like this, the city feels almost like the one he left behind. “The only other time I’ve been this high up was when I was 16. Bucky and I went up to the observation deck in the Empire State Building.”

“What were you doing up there?” His tone says he’s clearly only asking out of some attempt at politeness, but the interest isn’t really there. Steve’s gotten used to that tone, a lot of people take it these days as if he’s their grandparent and they have to sit through one more story they’ve heard countless times before. You keep asking so at the end of the day everyone feels good about themselves, but no one really cares anymore.

“Making out mostly.” It’s worth it just to hear Clint choke in surprise and Steve moves to grab his arm just in case he falls. Clint nods in thanks and slides off the railing back onto the balcony. Steve waits a moment to make sure he’s steady before letting go.

“Run that by me one more time, Cap…Steve.” Steve leans back against the railing and Clint copies him. “Bucky as in the guy you served with?”

“Yea, same guy.” Steve chews his lower lip nervously, he’s never told anyone about this, even he and Bucky rarely spoke about it. “It was a school trip, my last one before dropping out-”

“You dropped out of school?” Clint sounds more interested now, and maybe now he really does care about Steve’s answer.

Steve grins, this is information he’s more comfortable with. “It was the middle of the Depression. No one really asked questions about some orphan boys not showing up.”

Clint doesn’t say anything else for a moment and Steve goes back to his thoughts. He tried, after Loki and the Chitauri, to deal with what he lost. He tried to put his memories of Bucky and Peggy and the Commandos to rest, though he never visited their graves. He went out into the middle of nowhere and lost himself for awhile. When he came out again, he thought it was handled. Maybe he was wrong. “I never finished high school,” Clint says softly, voice almost lost in the wind gusting around them. “I started, but then Barney wanted to run away and I wasn’t staying in the orphanage without him.” He chews thoughtfully on his thumbnail, eyes not focused on anything. Steve watches him through his peripheral vision.

“Why wouldn’t I want to be friends with you?” He asks, truly curious.

“I’m a carnie with a bow. Never really connected well to other people.”

“So? Until all of…” he gestures down at himself, positive that Clint’s sharp eyes will catch the movement even if he’s not looking. “I had one friend. One person who even noticed me.”

“And you made out with him in public areas,” Clint shoots him a small smile and for the first time it’s on his lips and in his eyes and Steve finds himself smiling back.

“We were in the bathroom. We weren’t stupid.” He looks back towards the door where everyone else is inside. No one has come out asking for help so whatever caused the crash is hopefully under control. “You connected with Bruce,” he says, turning back to Clint. “And make out with him in public areas.”

“Stop it, you’re making us sound creepily alike.” His smile widens though and Steve isn’t sure if the color to his cheeks is from the wind or something else.

“Nah, Bucky generally preferred to solve his problems by punching them.”

“In all fairness, Bruce does have a temper problem.” His smile softens into something more serious and he twists so he’s facing Steve now. Steve doesn’t think he’s ever been focused on like that. Clint’s eyes are sharp and piercing and he really has earned his nickname. “I’m sorry, for dismissing you so quickly.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.” Steve hates to admit it but something about Clint’s intensity makes him nervous.

“I assumed you were going to be all strict and military, kinda my antithesis.” Steve blinks in surprise. “Forgot you were, you know, a _person_ underneath all that spangle.”

Steve buries his head in his hands and groans softly. The uniform, it always came back to the uniform. When he retires he’s burning it.

“No!” Clint laughs and nudges his shoulder. “You can’t do that. Coulson put his heart and soul into that thing. You gotta honor that, come on now. Maybe you’ll get a display in the Smithsonian and they’ll want to treasure it.”

Steve shakes his head but can’t deny some truth to what Clint’s saying. A smile tugs on his lips against his best efforts at trying to remain embarrassed. “You want to know a secret?”

“Is it as good as the last one where Captain America casually revealed he was gay with omg my bff Jill?”

“What?”

Clint pats his shoulder. “I’ll show you later. Go on.”

Steve licks his lips, suddenly dry from nervousness. “Bucky and I had sex in the uniform.”

Clint reaches for the beer, grimacing when he finds out it’s empty along with the other bottle. He looks at it as if the beer as personally insulted him by being empty. Reluctantly he puts the bottle back down and looks at Steve. “You know, I almost saw that coming? Still think I need alcohol to come to terms with it.”

“Back inside?” Steve suggests, smiling a little more openly now. Clint stretches slowly and reaches for the two empties.

“Back inside,” he agrees. “Thanks for dealing with my moment.”

“It’s no problem, we’re a team right?”

Clint throws his arm over Steve’s shoulder, ignoring the few inches Steve has on him. “Dude, with everything you just shared, we’re definitely friends now. I need to go fuck Bruce in like the White House to be able to compare.” Everyone’s heads turn to stare at them at that and Steve is sure he timed it. To his credit, Bruce just arches an eyebrow and smirks slightly.

“The White House?” Bruce asks as if it’s a serious idea and Steve frees himself very quickly from Clint because even if it’s not directed at him, he knows that look.

“Only tell me after the fact, I need plausible deniability,” he sighs, fairly sure an outright no would do more harm then good. He drops down heavily onto the couch next to Natasha. She’s upgraded her bottle of beer to a bottle of vodka that she hands to him without a word. Steve takes it gratefully. He’s not sure which part of the night he needs it for more, Clint’s announcement he’s going to have sex in the White House or all his deep revelations. He feels a deep regret all over again that the vodka won’t get him drunk. Especially when Clint leans against the back of the couch and steals the bottle from him.

“Steve’s good people Nat, we need to take care of him.”

She shoots Steve a look and he’s still not good enough with women to understand what it means but it only lasts a moment before she smiles patiently up at Clint. “I know.”

“Figured but you know, making sure,” he’s starting to slur just slightly and Bruce pulls him away, his arm fitting easily around Clint’s waist. They whisper softly back and forth so not even Steve’s enhanced hearing can pick up what they’re saying. Clint’s hand strays lower and Steve very quickly stops paying attention, reaching blindly for the vodka. He realizes he still hasn’t asked about what the crashing sound was earlier but there are no signs of destruction so he decides that can wait until later to deal with. They sit there, neither saying much, passing the bottle back and forth. Around them the room buzzes with life and action, occasionally peaking as Tony or Thor or Clint steal all the attention but they’re both content just to watch. Steve still can’t get drunk but for once he doesn’t particularly care. In the right places, the future has all the warmth of the past.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Action Needs an Audience by Jimmy Eat World.  
> Thank you to Ellie for betaing <3


End file.
